The evening of June 1, NDC joined with our partners, volunteers and family to celebrate notable Maryland influencers in the design and community development fields, share recent accomplishments and launch our vision for NDC’s next five years. As we move into our 50th year, exciting growth and development are on the horizon, as we build on our rich history.

This year, NDC re-instituted the tradition of publicly honoring our volunteers and partners by telling their stories and presenting awards at the annual meeting. Awardees were recognized for their selfless dedication to the work of community design and community development, in the following categories:

Regina Hammond is honored as Community Advocate of the Year. Photo by Marcus Ervin.

The event, in conjunction with the NDC Board’s Annual Meeting, was held at Whitehall Mill’s soon to be developed market hall. Attendees, who ranged from 7 months to 70+ years, and enjoyed light fare, music, stories and local beer, in an ambiance of conviviality.

Heartfelt thanks to those who made the event possible! For more event photos, see the album here.

via Sweat Equity + Community Design + Community Organizing!

Darley Park is a tight-knit residential community bordered to the west by Harford Road. Community leaders have for years worked on improving the neighborhoods gateways, seeking support for their goal of a community park and amphitheater to replace vacancy and disuse. In 2015, NDC and the 6th Branch, a veteran-led service organization, were asked to partner with Darley Park Community Association and BUILD to provide support to turn a large vacant parcel on the eastern side of the neighborhood into the community’s vision for a vibrant, multigenerational convening space.

Gateway Park in 2017

Over the last two years, gradual progress has been made in diminishing nuisance dumping and vandalism, reclaiming the space, and testing uses for the site. At community meetings, residents pored over ideas for the future park, developing a unified vision. Leaders recruited support and resources in the form of site improvements and a community sign from DOT. Volunteers dedicated Wednesday mornings to work on the site- mowing, picking up litter, planting flowers, and building benches, planters and more.

Gateway Park in 2014

Eventually, as energy galvanized around the project, more groups joined in to offer their support. MICA community artists, led by artist Whitney Frazier, partnered on community visioning sessions and created a large mural, to become the focal point and welcome ‘sign’ for the Darley Park community. Healthy Harbor worked with neighbors on alley stenciling and a series of vibrant environmentally themed garage murals. NDC designer Jimmy Leonard (of the multidisciplinary, award winning Baltimore firm Design Collective) designed a plan for the continued evolution of the park, and in the fall of 2016, Delegate Cory McCray sponsored a bond bill proposal for the site.

As of the close of this years legislative session, the bond bill funding has been secured, and, in the words of Delegate McCray, “The best is yet to come!”

Stay tuned for project updates as the Darley Park Gateway Park project continues to gain momentum. Check out the plans below for a taste of what is to come.

“Vision, compassion, and tenacity pay off. Many years, many partners, many investments.”

We couldn’t have said it better, Sarah Hope!

In August, the National Recreation and Park Association and American Planning Association announced that Ambrose Kennedy Park in Baltimore’s Johnston Square community will receive a renovation grant for $437,500. NDC has provided technical assistance and support for the grassroots efforts to advocate for improvements to the park since 2013 and we couldn’t be more proud. Fantastic news for our Johnston Square neighbors! Hats off for the years of stewardship and hard work put in by our community partners at the Re-Build Johnston Square, BUILD, and The 6th Branch and thanks to the support of BCPR and Parks and People Foundation.

But as we all know, $437,500 for community parks doesn’t normally fall from the sky. This is what happens when citizens, nonprofits and city agencies work together! Over 5,000 volunteer hours have been logged in the park since 2013. A team of community leaders, local organizations, churches, volunteers have been chipping away at making this forgotten space an active, colorful and safe community asset. Baltimore City Parks and Rec then added the site to its capital improvement budget and began a phased improvements, starting with depaving of old, cracked ashphalt and planting low maintenance landscaping to green and add tree cover to the site. When the recent grant opportunity surfaced, Ambrose Kennedy was a contender due to the significant partnership, engagement, dedication and need demonstrated over time. Stay tuned for more on the design and timeline for the park renovations as BCPR and Parks and People move the construction forward. We can’t wait to see this grand vision executed.

You get free plants and all you have to do is put them in the ground with your friends and neighbors? That’s Clean Up Green Up! This one-day, county-wide landscape beautification effort of the County Executive in Prince George’s County, Maryland, (formerly Gorgeous Prince George’s Day) has been bringing communities together for over ten years. This year, Clean Up Green Up’s planting day will be October, 29, 2016. The County’s Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) provides free plant material with the promise that community groups will plant in public spaces. The Neighborhood Design Center partners with DPW&T and other agencies and provides design and technical assistance to any interested groups.

The students at Eleanor Roosevelt High School are working with NDC to implement environmental-themed murals for the temporary classroom structures on their campus! Their murals, which will focus on the challenges and solutions to restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, are being implemented onto 8 faces of the temporary classrooms. NDC hosted a friendly design competition at the school to get students to individually develop their initial design concepts, which resulted in 42 student design submissions. These design themes ranged from community well-being and biodiversity, to natural resource conservation and cultural identity. NDC also held two design workshops at the school to get students to collaborate on their ideas and work together to finalize their designs for implementation.

The overall goals of this effort are to 1) increase student awareness of the challenges and solutions to restoring the health of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed; 2) promote environmental sustainability and stewardship; 3) increase quality of life; 4) promote social and environmental justice. This project is supported by the Chesapeake Bay Trust, Prince George’s County District 4 Council Member Todd Turner, Community Forklift, and our professional volunteers: Nehemiah Dixon from Art Works Now, Bronwyn King from Studio SoHy, Peter Krsko from Krsko Creative Group, and Brooke Kidd from Joe’s Movement Emporium, who have dedicated their time as artist panelists to review designs and provide technical expertise throughout project development.
So far 3 walls have been painted since Project Kick Off Day on June 4th. Stay tuned for more project progress and updates!

Over the last year, NDC collaborated with Housing Initiative Partnership and Kentland/Palmer Park residents to develop conceptual illustrations of residential landscape templates, residential facade improvements and new community entrance signage in support of the Kentland/Palmer Park Home Restoration and Facade Improvement Program. On May 12, Prince George’s County Executive Rushern L. Baker, III and his administration recognized the accomplishments of the program and celebrated four years of Transforming Neighborhood Initiative achievements with a walk through and tour of the implemented residential renovations.

A year after the uprising in Baltimore on the day of Freddie Gray‘s funeral, the state announced that it has awarded $650,000 in storefront improvement grants to nearly 50 businesses in affected areas. NDC is partnering with the MD DHCD, AIA Baltimore, and Baltimore Heritage to assure that we are bringing high quality architecture to the investment. Learn more here.

“To become a world-class city Baltimore needs new approaches to the challenges facing its citizens and neighborhoods. Baltimore’s next mayor needs more than strong messaging and leadership; innovation must be central to his or her agenda.

We propose that Baltimore create a city office tasked specifically with civic innovation. This new office would act as a laboratory to explore methods for radically improving city operations and citizens’ lives. It should focus on Baltimore’s areas of greatest need such as education, jobs, community-police relations, transportation and vacant properties. This innovation office would apply best practices from leading-edge cities around the world and the private sector, with the well being of everyone in Baltimore as its bottom line…”

For the rest of todays Op-Ed by NDC Executive Director Jennifer Goold and designer Bruce Willen:

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